Good Fortune
by Icca
Summary: We all have bad days, but Reeve's has been awful. But a slip of good advice in the form of a fortune reaches him in time to turn his luck around. A bit of Reeve and Elena.


((Author's Note: Originally Written for the livejournal community "30 kisses" Writing's been slow lately and I figured I should put something up here at least. Enjoy.))

Morning hung heavily over Midgar. Fog choked the sun that strained to rise over the city and dispel the night. Reeve found himself sympathizing for the sun, if only because he too was struggling: he had slept only three hours the night before and was currently trudging his way into the office to finish up the last of his paperwork from the night before.

He walked through the Shinra building, his step brisk despite his currently low energy level, moved purposefully to the elevator. He poked the up button almost aggressively, some small part of him blaming the elevator for his having to be at work at such an hour. When the elevator doors did not immediately open, he sighed and scratched his beard, then checked his watch. 6:28; a time which should only ever be followed by "pm," Reeve decided.

With a ding, the elevator finally arrived and as the doors slid open, Reeve stepped forward, not even thinking that someone might be stepping off. Unfortunately, someone was indeed exiting the elevator, and this person let out a sharp, "Excuse me!" when Reeve almost collided with her. The man blinked, raising his hands defensively. "I'm terribly sorry, Elena," he said, "I really didn't expect anyone to be coming off."

Elena stared at him for a few moments, her brown eyes cold with annoyance. She frowned then, gave a half-shrug and stepped around the head of the urban development department. "Just be more careful next time, Reeve." With that statement, she walked off.

Reeve looked after her, grimacing. She must think him a fool. He wondered why she was here so early, then decided that it was a Turk thing that he did not want to know about. He shook his head and turned again to board the elevator only to find the doors had already slid shut once again. He pressed the up button and, once again, waited for it to come.

* * *

It had been a productive morning, but no matter how much work had gotten done and how much still sat piled in his inbox, there comes a time when a man has to eat lunch. It was about ten when Reeve personally discovered this fact, so it was also around ten when he stood up and stretched and stepped out of his office. 

On his way to the elevator lobby, one of the receptionists approached him. "Mr. Tuestie," she called out, "We're doing a drawing for charity. Would you like to contribute?"

Reeve stopped and looked at her. "A drawing?"

"Yes. Five gil lets you play. You pick a number from one to one-hundred. If you have the right number, you win a candy basket; it's got all sorts of goodies in it. The proceeds benefit children orphaned by the reactor explosions." She smiled a cute smile so sweet that Reeve did not for a moment consider turning her down.

"Um, sure," he agreed, nodding and reaching for his wallet. "Five gil you said?"

"Yes, but you can contribute more if you'd like. You still only get one number."

Reeve nodded his understanding, pulling out a ten gil bill – the terrorist attacks on the reactors were a sore spot for him, so of course he would contribute an extra five gil – and held it out to her. "Which number are you betting on?"

She gave him another smile, accepting the bill. "I'm playing twenty-five. It's my favorite number," she admitted, a small blush on her cheeks.

Reeve offered a little laugh at her apparent shyness. "I see. Then I'll outdo you by one and play twenty-six."

She nodded, tucked the bill into her pocket and thanked him. "I'll let you know this afternoon if you've won." She hesitated then added, "Also I need to make sure twenty-six isn't already claimed. But in any event, good luck!" She waved then returned to her desk and picked up the phone receiver, presumably to call a coworker about Reeve's picking number twenty-six.

Still grinning, Reeve returned the wave and headed for the elevator. He would grab a quick lunch and return in about twenty minutes. He checked his watch to see the time, or tried to for his watch was no longer on his wrist. He blinked. Then he cursed under his breath. Then he returned to his office, checked the desk, checked the floor. Unable to find it, he headed for the receptionist's desk. "Hey, Jenny?"

The woman looked up and grinned. "We haven't done the drawing yet silly. But we'll let you know when we do. Oh, and twenty-six was still free so that's your number."

Reeve forced a smile, not wanting to be rude. "Er, not about that. But thank you. I was wondering if you'd seen my watch? I seem to have misplaced it."

She blinked, then shook her head, then checked one of her desk drawers and shook her head again. "No one's found it on this floor," she said. "Or at least no one's turned it in to me. Check back in a bit though, I always end up with missing objects." She gave him another one of her sweet smiles to which Reeve could only smile and nod in return. He thanked her, then sighed.

The watch had been a gift from his parents when he had gone off to college, and it meant a great deal to him, but if it was lost, then it was lost. Resigned to this, he headed to the elevator lobby once more. He rode the elevator down to the first floor, and on his way out glanced at the giant clock that hung above the doorway. He then did a double-take. It was a quarter to eleven already; had he really been looking for his watch that long?

With an exasperated sigh, he turned right around to go back upstairs. It looked like there would be no lunch for him today. The realization of this fact made him feel all the more hungry, but he did his best to ignore it as he settled back into his desk.

He checked on Avalanche through his spy-bot, Cait Sith, and seeing nothing unusual, set the monitoring program to run in the background while he did other work. With much aggravation, he discovered that he still needed a report on the reactor's efficiency ratings over the last two weeks before he could finish his proposal for how the new reactors needed to be redesigned. He rubbed his temples, willing the newly formed headache – or newly noticed; he had a feeling he'd had it all day but had been too busy to notice for quite some time – away.

He stood up from his desk and took a single step before his computer pinged. That sound meant that Cait Sith had seen something unusual, and also meant that it required Reeve's immediate attention. He sat down again and tabbed over to the spy program. A message was waiting for him.

"Hello, Operator."

That was it? The robot was saying hello? He began to stand again, then paused while halfway out of his chair. He sunk back into the seat. The robot had never talked to him before, not like this. It was always "Look at this!" or "This location was mentioned!" The thing had never just said hello.

He stared at the screen, pushing down his panic that the machine had been hacked into. He typed, "Hello, Cait Sith."

"Would you like me to tell your fortune?"

Again, Reeve stared at the words before finally typing, "Yes." He might as well see what the hacker was going to reveal.

"Take a chance. There's more to gain than there is to lose. Lucky numbers: 14, 9, 26, 6, 10"

Reeve blinked. It was just a fortune after all. Had the AI actually started harrassing people to have their fortunes read? It had been a fortune-teller long before Reeve had modified it to fit his purposes, but that should not mean that it asked everyone – including someone not physically near it – if they wanted their fortunes read.

He shook his head, laughed because there was no other reaction he could give, and left his desk. He'd deal with whatever malfunction this was later.

The needed report was one that Dan Bernstein had been assigned to, so Reeve headed down to the fourteenth floor to talk to him. The floor was a maze of cubicles and tiny cramped offices, but Reeve had visited Bernstein often enough to know just where the man should be located. He stepped into room 1415 after knocking once, however Bernstein was not at his desk. He asked on of the other men who called this room their office where he was, and was told to check down the hall.

Reeve nodded and thanked the man, then headed further down the hall. Most of the doors were open, either with the lights off or with people working inside, people who were obviously not the one Reeve was looking for. At the end of the hallway, before the the corridor turned to the right, was a closed door: 1409.

Having not seen Bernstein yet and running out of hall, Reeve knocked. If he was disturbing someone, it didn't much matter: he was an executive of the company after all. A voice inside called for him to let himself in, so he did, poking his head inside. This room appeared to be the administrative office for this floor, filled with copy machines, mailboxes, receptionists, and many file cabinets. This must have been the room that he was told to look for; if anyone knew where Bernstein was, it seemed likely that a receptionist would.

In truth he was somewhat surprised he'd never been here before, although considering his position, he'd never had to go through a receptionist before; he always went directly to his underlings' offices.

"I'm looking for Dan Bernstein," he said to the receptionist at the front desk, a slim man with glasses.

"Oh, Dan? He went up to uh, deliver a report to your mailbox, actually, Mr. Tuesti. He just made a copy of it here and then left about three minutes ago."

Reeve grinned. "I see. I must have missed him on the way." Well, on the one hand, he made a trip for nothing, on the other hand, the report was complete so he would not have to wait on it as he had feared he would. "Thank you," he said.

As he was walking out the door, a box propped up on two chairs caught his eye. It was a cardboard box labeled "Lost & Found." Reeve looked in.

"Aha!" His watch was indeed inside the box, and he pulled it out and examined it. It looked fine, not scuffed up, although one of the links was broken, which must have been the cause of it falling off of his wrist.

The receptionist looked up at his exclamation. "Oh, that's yours?" The man adjusted his glasses slightly on his nose. "Someone found it on the elevator this morning and turned it in to us. We haven't had the chance to take it to the building-wide lost and found yet. We were also worried that if we did, someone would steal it."

Reeve nodded. "Well, I'm glad you didn't or else I might never have found it." He held it up and nodded his head in gratitude. "Thanks for watching it for me." He slipped it into his pocket with a grin. His day was looking up after all. The receptionist just nodded, clearly less than excited about Reeve's reunion with his watch. "See you later,"

The rest of the afternoon passed quietly, and now that Reeve had everything that he needed, it looked as if he might finish only slightly late tonight. He was still hungry, but he put off eating until later, on the hope that it would motivate him to work harder and actually leave before he starved to death.

There was only one interruption in the late afternoon; Jenny entered his office carrying a covered basket. "Congratulations!" she exclaimed. "You won the poll! We drew a twenty-six so here's your candy basket." She set it down on his desk, and continued before he even had a chance to speak. "We also included a sandwich in there for you. Oh don't worry, we paid for it out of our own wallets, not out of money that's to go to the orphans," she explained with a small giggle.

Reeve found himself blinking and staring for what seemed like the one hundredth time that day. "Oh. Thank you," he said a little weakly. He was surprised more that people actually did sometimes win these office polls rather than the fact that he won. And the sandwich was much appreciated too. "That was very kind of you. I didn't eat lunch today."

"We know," she winked. "We're not clueless you know. We thought that if we just gave you the candy basket you'd pig out on junk food instead of eating something healthy. I hope you like ham."

Reeve chuckled, thankful for his lovely staff. "Ham's terrific. Really, thanks. Um," he stopped her when she tried to leave. "Would you and the other girls like a piece of candy? There's more than enough in here..."

Jenny laughed. "That's real sweet of you. But you have to eat the first piece since you won. Just take what you want and put the rest out on the reception desk when you're done. We'll all enjoy it tomorrow. Thanks, Reeve." She waved as she left.

Reeve grinned at the doorway after she had gone and unwrapped his sandwich, chewing on it while he worked. It really tasted delicious; just what he needed. And it was a big sandwich too. The girls hadn't skimped. They'd be getting the lion's share of the candy for this sandwich.

When he left the office, he put the candy basket, minus only two chocolate bars, on the reception desk for whoever wanted them. The girls had all left, but as Jenny had said, they would surely enjoy it tomorrow. He put the candy bars that he took in his jacket pocket and headed out, pulling his watch out of his pocket to check the time: 6:00 on the dot.

He walked with a spring in his step. While he was not getting out early, he was almost getting out on time, which made him feel that the day had gone particularly well, and really, he reflected, after a rocky start, it had. When he stepped on the elevator, he again ran into Elena, although fortunately this time it was not literally. He smiled to her. "Sorry about this morning," he said, somewhat sheepishly.

Elena looked puzzled for a moment, her blond brow furrowed. Then she grinned. "Oh right. You trampling me." She laughed a little. "It's not a big deal. You didn't actually trample me, anyway."

Reeve's lips curled up at the side, a half-smile and he scratched his head in an effort to look thoroughly embarrassed. "Even so."

She laughed again, this time with a bit more feeling and shook her head. "Nah, it's no big deal. You done for the night?" When he nodded she continued, "Yeah, me too. I mean, there's a lot of stuff I can do, you know? But I don't have to so I'm going to put if off since I had to be here since before six in order to study up on--" she stopped herself, blinking. Then she grinned, and it was her turn to look sheepish. "Well, Turk things."

Reeve nodded, pretending not to notice her near-slip. "Yeah, I hear you. But hey, you'll be home soon then you can sleep, right?"

She laughed. "Well, I'll probably watch some TV first. And not really soon – the next train's not coming 'til about 6:30, so I'll have some time to catch up on a magazine. I'd stay later, but there's nothing I can really do in a half hour, so I'd rather not even start."

Reeve frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I could give you a ride home if you like."

"Really?" she asked, her face coloring slightly. Then, she shook her head. "No, no. I wouldn't feel right."

The elevator came to a stop and chirped as the doors slid open. Reeve stepped off while saying, "Look, I insist. It's just a ride home. You'll get home before the train would even get to this station."

Elena stood in the elevator, uncertain while Reeve held the door to keep it from closing on her. After a few minutes pause, she nodded and stepped out as well. "I guess so. Thanks."

He nodded, muttering a "don't mention it" and lead her to his car. Once both were safely inside, he remembered the candy and offered her a bar. "Chocolate? I won this office poll thing, and I don't really eat much candy."

With a grin, Elena accepted. "You know, I always learned not to get in a car with a strange man and also not to take candy from a strange man either."

"I'm strange?" Reeve asked, mouth agape in mock horror as he began to drive. "And where do you live?"

She laughed, but didn't bother to answer his first question. "164 East Kayman street. Sector six." Reeve nodded at the directions, and drove toward that area. The car ride was spent mostly in silence, occasionally broken by Elena taking a bite of the candy bar. With some more directions nearer to her apartment building, Reeve manged to find the place without mishap. He parked, and got out of the car at the same time Elena did. She blinked at him.

Feeling awkward, he explained, "I just thought I should walk you to your door as well. Um."

Elena must have taken pity on him, or decided that Reeve deserved to play gentleman every once in a while so she simply nodded and started walking to the apartment. She unlocked the door to the building and held it open for him. He stopped through. She lead the way inside. "I'm on the first floor," she said. Then she grinned mischievously "Guess what my apartment number is."

"Guess what your..." he repeated, then shook his head. "A guessing game? What do I get if I win?"

She hesitated for a long moment, finger on her chin as she thought. "Well, you win a kiss." She said, winking.

Now it was Reeve's turn to blush and he did so. "Ah, um. Okay." He laughed a little at the ridiculousness of the situation as well as the unlikelihood that he would actually guess correctly. He thought back on the day, and, for lack of anything better, thought of his fortune from Cait Sith. It was after receiving that fortune that his luck changed, after all. Take a chance. And his lucky numbers, what were they? 14, 9, 26, 6, and 10.

After some deliberation, he decided to trust Cait Sith. There was more to gain than there was to lose, after all. "Ten," he said with more confidence than he actually felt. "I bet you live in apartment ten."

Elena tilted her head to the side and looked at him. Then a slow smile spread across her lips and she shook her head in wonderment. "How did you do that? I do live in apartment ten. You some kind of spy or something?" She laughed, then leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Good job." She laughed and beckoned him down the hall. "Well, then walk me to my door, Lucky."

Reeve echoed her laugh with a chuckle of his own and walked with her, having to take a few hasty steps to keep up. He was embarrassed from the kiss, but certainly not embarrassed enough to follow her. They reached her door and as she unlocked the door, he nodded to her. "Well, let me know if you ever need another ride home. I'll try to guess your apartment number again." This earned another laugh.

"Thanks a bunch, Reeve. I'll see you tomorrow. Probably. Maybe." She shook her head, still smiling and pushed her door open. "Anyway, thanks."

He nodded again and began to walk back to the exit.

"Actually, Reeve," Elena called from behind him, causing him to turn. She was leaning out of her apartment into the hallway, gripping the doorknob for support. Her brown eyes were focused on him. "Would you like to come in for a little bit? I can put on coffee."

Reeve grinned. "Sure. That'd be great."


End file.
